Sometime in the last 20-50 years projects became global.

For big construction projects, the scenarios look like this: engineering is in India and US, Project Management is in Canada, the owner is in China, and the asset is built and tested in Brazil.

For IT projects, the scenarios look like this: Governance is in Des Moines, Engineering is in Arizona, Project management is in Dallas, Suppliers are in India, and support is in the Philippines.

The global nature of projects presents a lot of moving parts that are hard to control without the right processes, leadership, and tools.

Improper processes for integrating remote teams leads to two basic problems. Either the teams take on too much or they take on too little. Both problems stem from poor definition of work processes.

Teams that do too much are ambitious and simply take on work they think isn’t being done. A prime example of this is when a remote engineering team expands into procurement and starts contacting suppliers without handing the requisition over to buyers. While their effort to go above and beyond is commendable, you probably want the commercial experts interfacing with the suppliers.

On the other side of the coin are teams that take on too little. These teams generally are either lazy or unsure of what is expected. If there is no process to assign clear work orders they may sit idle or work on the wrong thing. Proper communication processes with clearly defined roles will improve these teams output.

Improper leadership will doom a remote team. Improper leadership arises when leaders can’t align their team with the projects. This is usually because they don’t understand the culture they are working with or don’t have clear direction from project executives.

Improper tools will mess your project up. Teams need the right amount of access to project data and documents to do their jobs. The right tools pull all project information into one system, allow teams to interact with each other, and enforce project processes. Without the right tools, it is nearly impossible to compete with companies that have the right tools. Companies with the right tools are more profitable, keep better employees, and have fewer data loss (theft, breaches, leaks, and knowledge turnover).